1 Scapegoat

The surrounding was dark. Our protagonist, Leo, felt nothing, saw nothing, and generally could not perceive anything particular.

There was no light, but also no darkness, like there would be if you would close your eyes or stand in a dark room.

Also was there no feeling. Neither as if you would lie on a bed, a hard floor or something similar. in addition no hot or cold, or some kind of sense.

All he could detect was, that he was. not where or in what state, but he was.

"Hey, sleepyhead. I know you can hear me, so I hope you will not let me wait for much longer. Get up already."

Leo heard the voice, but couldn't make much sense of it. Though he want to wake up, to walk around and interact with something, he couldn't.

He didn't even question how he could hear the voice, when Leo could generally not hear anything.

Leo only drifted in an seemingly endless void, not caring whatever the voice said.

"Not listening, huh? Let's get you out here forcefully then. But let me warn you, it's going to hurt, so prepare yourself."

"Whatever, I don't care." That was the only thing in Leo's mind.

Suddenly, Leo felt a pull. It was as if he got grabbed by the guts.

First the pull was gentle, and only felt like removing a thorn from the belly. At most annoying.

But in a moment's notice, the feeling rose from a light discomfort to hellish pain, as if his intensities are not only burning hot, but are also torn apart by glowing hot meat hooks.

At first, Leo's only thought was:"Well, how bad can it be. Better feeling something as nothing."

But after the soft pain, his mind could not comprehend further sentences.

He tried to wiggle in extreme pain, but quickly realized that wasn't an option, for the lack of a proper body.

"You are a stubborn one, aren't ya. Don't worry, when you wake up, there will be most certainly no permanent damage. So be a good little soul and get out of there."

After a for Leo endless torment, he felt something.

At first, he felt how the pain subsided. Then, he tasted some metallic substance, most likely blood.

Afterwards Leo felt a hard wooden floor pressing against his cheek, and noticed some dim light shining through his tight closed eyelids.

In but a moment, he opened his heavy eyes after what felt like a eternity.

He tried to stand up, but his body felt heavy, stiff and foreign.

"No need to try that hard, you should be somewhat perplexed now.

I give you five minutes, afterwards hear me out and don't ask anything stupid."

'What kind of person, no, thing is that, that can inflict such pain, and talk in such a manner?'

In his curiosity, he moved his pupils in the direction of the voice, but quickly noticed, that the voice seemed to come from everywhere.

'No need to know for now. But I want to be able to sit at least. Common, stupid body of mine, move!'

After three attempts, Leo manages to drag his arms under his body, and soon gathered enough strength to push himself in a sitting position.

Then, he made some simple movements, like curling his fingers and wiggle his toes.

Additionally, he tried to clear his mind, the demand of the mysterious voice still in mind.

'I wonder what it want from me? Why Did it bring me here?'

"Hey, gathered yourself? Can I begin?"

"Yes....please"

Leo answered, realizing how hard it still was even to talk, as if he never talked for a long time.

"At least some manners.

Alright, listen up: Maybe your thoughts wandered around it, but your mortal body died and you were about to enter a circle of reincarnation.

And before you ask why, i'm gonna explain it.

You know, in my world there is a law for existences like me. But after a.... small outburst of mine I accidentally killed a person I wasn't allowed to.

So, before my fellow higher entities recognize my mistake , I dragged you puny soul over to my world and place it into the body.

So, that is about it. Any questions?"

'Wait, so is this reincarnation? Is it like in all these novels? So I need more information about the world i'm gonna be in.'

"Then I may ask, in what kind of world are you going to put me in? Are there any major differences between our world and yours?"

"Yes, there are a lot of differences, like the availability of the power source called mana, which is required for magic, or magical animals or as many call them, monster.

Also is there a monarchy system and guilds."

"Then my next question, are you gifting me any special powers or abilities? So I can survive or fight for the world or against some kind of demon king?"

Leo expected the answer from the voice in anticipation, how he is making him powerful or like a cheat.

'Killing or adventure's is either illegal or nonexistent, this world is hopefully a lot more exciting and filled with opportunitys and thrilling encounters.'

"I told you already, no stupid questions. Why should I give you special powers or the like?

Already granting you to life another life should be enough. Actually, I would welcome an early death for you. Then my colleagues wouldn't notice my mistake and anything is as it should be.

So, enough talking. Prepare yourself, 'cause you are gonna be experiencing that pain from before again. Have fun."

With an imagined evil grin on its face, the voice faded. All it left behind was an perplexed Leo, who had a stunned expression.

'So, no cheat for me, huh? And even whishing me an early death, what a prick. I don't want to die, again.

I'm going to show it to this bastard, I will survive. Just wait and see.'

With these last thoughts, Leo felt the just too familiar sense of a meat hook.

And shortly afterwards, his mouth opened again in a silent scream, and one last concern was crossing his mind:" I have the feeling this will hurt more... ."

When Leo opened his eyes, he could only see a small part of destroyed earth. some trees around him were broken, as if a strong hurricane took place in this specific place, and the grass was either withered or was just completely missing.

Also, afterwards Leo realized something else: There was no sound.

'It seems the outburst from this guy either destroyed some life here and scared them away.

Anyway, I hope I will never again undergo pain as intense as this. But honestly now, I have to know who am I, where I am and what the situation here is.

There is nothing I know about this world, except that bit that thing told me. Let's just name him God A, maybe there are more than just him.'

After lying on the ground for a while and trying to accustom to this new body. Then he stood up and looked around. What he saw was except for the damaged vegetation completely normal.

Just some huge trees, lush bushes, green grass and branches.

'Seems like the destruction was only in this small plot of land, and the previous owner of this body had really, really bad luck to be hit by that.'

Then he moved is eyes down onto himself, taking a look at his own appearance.

what he saw was, again, normal.

'I don't feel hurt, nor any type of lingering discomfort. Maybe I have already adapted to this.

Only something sticky on my back, not to mention I'm naked. Why the hell am I naked?

Could God A not even leave me some simple clothes for me? Using me to cover his shit and not even putting some clothes here.'

He turned around, trying to get a look at his back to know the reason of the sticky feeling.

And what he saw left him in shock.

There was a big puddle of blood, some of it already seeped into the dirt, and others still fluid and fresh.

'This boy was more than dead. He was practically obliterated. From the looks of it, I am now not older than 12 to 13. So he killed a child in his fit of rage. What an arse.

But even so, why was this boy even here? For what reason, and how far is his, or now my hometown? How do I even get back there?'

With these questions and more in his mind, he slowly began to take steps towards a random direction. After all, beginning to move is the first step to survive, at least better than standing there and not achieving anything, he thought.

After around 5 minutes, he heard the sound of flowing water.

'Nice, I can at least wash myself now, so if would get found, they wouldn't find it suspicious why my body is covered in dirt and blood.'

He pushed some leaves aside, and before him was a beautiful scenery.

A crystal-clear stream flowed downhill, surrounded by healthy looking plants, grass and trees .

'How lovely...'

Faster than before, Leo made his way towards the stream. When he arrived, he first stepped his toe in the water.

While it felt cold at first, but the prospect of being clean pushed him and soon he sat on the side and washed away the dirt and blood.

'Really, no leftover damage. At least God A healed my body.

I wonder, my state seems healthy. No signs of malnourishment or abnormalities.

Just some scars here and there, but nothing to protrude.

Maybe my family here is wealthy enough to afford a good life.

If it's a monarchy, there is a good chance it is like the medieval times, with famines, nobles and commoners, swords and so on.'

Next Leo gathered some branches with big leaves from the earth, bound them together with a vine he tugged from somewhere and made a primitive loincloth to at least cover his important parts.

Then he made his way to the stream again, took some handful of water to satisfy his thirst and searched for a calmer part of the stream, which he quickly found.

There, he saw for the first time his appearance.

He saw a healthy looking, slightly smaller than average child, with brown colored hair, a strong nose and already strong looking shoulders. Actually, although his body seemed slightly on the smaller side for what he guessed was his age, he had some impressive muscle development.

'Not a bad body, while not particularly handsome , at least not like a goblin.

Then, are there even goblins in this world? Questions over questions... .

I really need to get out of this forest to gather information.'

After a thinking pause, Leo decided to follow the stream downhill, because it was the most likely to find some humans that way.

The minutes were passing by, and Leo asked himself:

'Are there really monsters here? I am now at least for half an hour in this forest, but never encountered anything. Not to mention monsters, I never saw some kind of wildlife here, just some bugs here and there.

Is this maybe still the aftermath of this Gods doing? The power of impact was not really that impressive, never mind the corpse of mine.'

But, at that moment, as if to answer his question, Leo saw something coming out from the bushes further downstream.

'Oh damn, I now I kind of asked for it, but this is to sudden. '

But soon he noticed what came out from the bush. It was a male human, dressed in some simple grayish clothing, covered with a rough leather armor, and thick pants and boots.

Just as Leo wanted to rejoice and call over to the person, another pair followed from the same way as the boy, appearing to be in a group together.